


Dr. Snow's Babysitting Tales

by saviourhale



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Humor, and caitlin is really no good with kids, barry is a good friend, im bad with tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-01
Updated: 2015-05-01
Packaged: 2018-03-26 13:35:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3852715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saviourhale/pseuds/saviourhale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s worse than bad, it is absolutely terrible and she’s so close to losing her mind.</p>
<p>The baby woke up screaming bloody hell thirty minutes after the Fletchers left, and it’s been another half hour since, she still hasn’t managed to get him to shut up.</p>
<p>“Oh dear god, I’m a good person, I don’t deserve this” Caitlin whines while bouncing the tiny baby in her arms. She’s shushing him and rubbing his little tiny head soothingly but it’s to no avail. He just keeps crying and crying and Caitlin’s really at a loss here.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dr. Snow's Babysitting Tales

**Author's Note:**

> Sam prompted: _Caitlin has to babysit but she doesn’t know what to do so she enlists Barry’s help._

Caitlin’s just paused her movie when there’s a quick knock at her door followed by a hesitant “Caitlin dear, are you home?”

She scrunches her face wondering why Mrs. Fletcher is at her door on a Friday night.

“Just a minute!” she screams as she tightens her sleep robe while also trying to walk towards the door. After a few trips here and there, she manages to tie a knot on her robe and opens the door. “Yes Mrs. Fletcher? You needed something?” Caitlin asks warily.

The woman is nine kinds of fancy; all dressed up, makeup and hair extravagantly done accompanied by beautiful shiny pearls hanging around her neck with a matching set of earrings.

“Oh god, I know this is extremely last minute, but we’re desperate dear. We were wondering if you could be a doll and maybe babysit the children for the night. Susie, our regular babysitter, is homes sick with the flue and she’s doing quite terrible. Couldn’t make it tonight and well, you’re our last hope” Mrs. Fletcher rushes out to say.

Caitlin’s eyes widen a bit in return and she stands there caught completely off guard.

“I—uh?” she manages before slumping her shoulders and letting out a disgruntled ‘sure’. The woman looks so hopeful it’s kind of hard to say no. What kind of person would it make her if she flat out said no? Clearly she wasn’t busy; she was home alone on a Friday night, watching 27 Dresses while in her jammies and binge eating red velvet ice cream for god’s sake.

“Oh god bless your soul honey, you’re a life saver!” Mrs. Fletcher cheers delightedly. “Richard honey, she said yes!” the lady calls back at her husband who’s standing across the hall looking equally spiffy. “This dinner is awfully important for my husband’s future in the company he works in” she explains nonchalantly. 

Truthfully, it looks like she could really care less.

“I’ll be there in a minute then, I’ve just got to find my phone and slippers” she tells Mrs. Fletcher. The woman smiles brightly and nods her approval.

Caitlin groans as she drags herself to her room searching for her phone and slippers. She curses her damn soft soul and thinks that maybe one day she’ll be able to act selfishly and say no without fear of being judged badly by others.

She scoffs because ‘good one Cait, good one’.

Once she’s hunted down her phone and slippers, she grabs her keys off the coffee table and makes her way towards the Fletcher’s home.

-

“In case of an emergency, both our numbers are stuck to the fridge; please don’t hesitate in calling us if you run into any trouble, not sure how much experience you have with kids” Mrs. Fletcher says and Caitlin smiles sardonically, of course the action flies over the woman’s head. “The twins need to be showered and in bed by ten, and the baby is already fast asleep, but he wakes up several times throughout the night. He’s fairly easy to handle, just make sure to feed him once more at around eleven and change his dipper if he’s wet. He doesn’t handle being wet for long periods of time well.” Mrs. Fletcher says making a displeased face; she gets a far look in her eyes before Mr. Fletcher’s voice shakes her out of it.

“No worries Mrs. Fletcher, your children are in good hands” Caitlin replies saluting the lady. She wants to face palm herself because seriously, who salutes people now a days?

“I sure hope so” Mrs. Fletcher mumbles. “Thank you dear, we’ll discuss payments later” she waves her goodbyes and Caitlin closes the door.

This shouldn’t be so bad, right?

-

It’s worse than bad, it is absolutely terrible and she’s so close to losing her mind.

The baby woke up screaming bloody hell thirty minutes after the Fletchers left, and it’s been another half hour since, she still hasn’t managed to get him to shut up.

“Oh dear god, I’m a good person, I don’t deserve this” Caitlin whines while bouncing the tiny baby in her arms. She’s shushing him and rubbing his little tiny head soothingly but it’s to no avail. He just keeps crying and crying and Caitlin’s really at a loss here.

Something falls in the living room and she groans. Dear lord, she really hopes the twins haven’t gone and destroyed anything of value out there.

She places the baby back into the crib and promises she’ll be back soon, the baby in turn wails even louder as if it knows it’s going to be left alone.

“Logan, Serena! What is going on in here? Why are you guys out of bed? Did we not go over this ten minutes ago? You have a bedtime, please behave yourselves and go back to bed?” Caitlin pleads practically on the verge of tears.

The twins shake their heads violently and proceed to chase each other around the living room, which is a total mess by the way. Toys thrown around everywhere and the clothes they were wearing pre-shower are strewn all over as well.

Caitlin wants to scream and cry. Why the hell did she say yes?

Grabbing her phone, she makes a mad dash for the restroom and relishes in the muffled sounds. Anything is better than high pitched baby wails and toddler screams.

“Oh my god, Cisco, please pick up!” she cries stomping her feet. She drags a hand over her face and waits while the phone rings.

“Hey, this is Cisco, I’m probably off saving the world with my awesome team mates at the moment, or maybe I’m just sleeping. You’ll most likely never know, unless you ask of course. Anyways, leave a message and I’ll try to get back to you as soon as I can!” the machine beeps and Caitlin drops to the floor in a heap of limbs.

“Cisco, you are so useless to me right now, I hope you have a terrible dream with flesh eating bees!” Caitlin whisper-screams into the phone. She presses the end button a little too aggressively than needed and sits there for a moment contemplating how in the world she got herself into this massive mess.

Then it occurs to her, Barry!

“Barry, oh my god, Barry please be awake or not busy” Caitlin pleads as she scrolls down through her contact list.

“Hey Cait, what’s up?” Barry answers after the first three rings.

“Oh thank god!” she wails in excitement. “Barry—Barry, you have to come help me please. I am going to die, I swear, this is it. This is my end, this is how I’m going to die” Caitlin cries dragging herself up by the edge of the sink.

There’s rustling movements on the other side of the line and Barry speaks up, “you’re what? What do you mean you’re going to die? Caitlin are you in some kind of danger? Where are you, I’ll come and help you, just—calm down! Where are you?” Barry says hurriedly, he sounds a little far away and Caitlin suspects he’s probably changing into something other than sleeping clothes.

“These children are the spawn of Satan, Barry. You don’t understand, they refuse to listen, and they’re going around screaming and chasing each other. My head is pounding so hard, and the baby—god the baby, he just won’t shut up and I don’t know what’s wrong. Barry, I can’t, I just can’t take it anymore!” Caitlin cries desperately.

“Wait what? What?!” Barry asks completely confused. “What baby, what?” he says again.

“MRS. FLETCHER’S KIDS BARRY, WILL YOU KEEP UP WITH ME? JESUS CHRIST I SWEAR EVERYONE IS JUST SO USELESS TONIGHT!” Caitlin exclaims outraged that Barry has no clue what she’s talking about.

“Caitlin, seriously, if you’re drunk again—“ Barry warns.

She’s takes a few seconds to recollect herself and get her emotions on check. 

“God no, I wish” she sighs wistfully, “listen, okay listen. I am babysitting the Fletcher kids for the night, and I am so out of my league here. Honestly, these kids won’t go to bed, and the baby keeps crying, I have no idea how to calm him down. My head feels like it’s going to explode, I just really need your help right now Barry” Caitlin sighs a little less panicky this time.

There’s silence first and Caitlin thinks Barry might have hung up, she’s about to check if the call has been disconnected when Barry lets out the loudest of laughs.

“Caitlin Snow, are you serious right now?” Barry says through fits of laughter. “That’s your big emergency? You’re having trouble babysitting ?” he asks.

“Barry, I will end your life, I will make it slow and painful” Caitlin threatens angrily. He in turn laughs harder, so hard, it’s not even a sound anymore. “Barry Allen, I swear to god, if you don’t stop—“

There’s a knock at the door and Caitlin scrambles up to her feet.

“Barry?” she whispers into the phone, “is that you?” She cracks the bathroom door a little and can hear the twins running around in the living room while the TV plays in background, meanwhile the baby is still crying in distress across the hall.

“I am the fastest man alive” Barry concedes, “now will you please open the door? There’s an old lady down the hall looking at me weird, and her cat keeps hissing in my direction” he whispers back.

Caitlin would laugh if she wasn’t so stressed out; relief floods her as she basically runs out of the restroom and down the hall to get the door open revealing a very sleep ruffled Barry.

“Oh god, did I wake you up?” Caitlin asks biting her bottom lip in worry.

“Not really, I’d have to be able to sleep for you to wake me up” he answers truthfully.

“You’re not sleeping?” she asks before there’s another loud wail from the baby’s nursery. “Oh god, help me!” she whines dragging out the ‘me’. Barry laughs lightly and heads towards the direction of the crying, Caitlin following close behind.

“Hey there little guy, what’s wrong huh? You hungry?” Barry asks softly while picking up the baby. He pats the baby’s bottom and hums, “well he’s wet, and maybe that has something to do with his discomfort?” Barry asks looking at Caitlin.

“He’s wet?” Caitlin asks incredulously, “he’s wet? No he can’t be wet, I literally checked his dipper, twice might I add, about half an hour ago and trust me that was not the case!” she exclaimed.

“Well he is now, and I think that’s making him grumpy, tell you what, how about I change him and try to put him to bed while you go round up the other two and see if you can put them to bed” Barry tells her, he’s already setting the baby on the changing table and grabbing a dipper.

“I uh—yeah, okay. I’ll do that” Caitlin mumbles. She stares at Barry and the baby in awe, he’s stopped crying and he’s gurgling at Barry who’s currently in between changing him and cooing at him.

It’s the single, most absolute cutest thing she’s ever seen.

“Logan? Serena?” Caitlin sing songs, “time to go to bed, for real this time” she says tiptoeing towards the living room. There’s no answer, no screaming, no running. Caitlin starts to panic but she catches sight of Serena’s Captain America pajamas, walking further into the living room she finds both toddlers curled up under the coffee table playing with some of their toys.

“You little night terrors” she says pushing the coffee table away, “time for bed okay?” she tells them, and for a second she thinks they might comply. She was completely mistaken.

“NO!” Serena kicks Caitlin and makes a run for it, Logan crawls in the other direction and there’s a full on screech session once again.

“Why are you being so difficult?” Caitlin wails as she runs around trying to catch at least one of them.

“I don’t wanna go to bed!” Logan yells from on top of the couch.

“No bed time!” Serena yells from wherever she’s hiding.

“Logan, you get down from there! Couches are for sitting, not standing! Serena, come out right this instant!” Caitlin admonishes, she hopes her voice conveys enough authority, but it clearly doesn’t since Logan turns to stick out his tongue at her and starts jumping up and down on the couch.

Caitlin is just about ready to give up when Barry whooshes in and has both Logan and Serena tucked in under each of his arms in one quick move.

“I think Dr. Snow said it was time to go to bed” Barry tells the kids with a knowing look, they’re too stunned to even do anything but blink up at him. “Now, we’re gonna go tuck you into bed, and you are going to stay there” Barry says. He motions for Caitlin to show him the way to the kids’ room, so she complies and leads the way.

It’s sweet, beautiful silence once Barry’s got both kids tucked into bed.

“How did you do find me so fast?” Serena asks with wide eyes.

“Yeah!” Logan exclaims in total awe, “it always takes me super long to find her!” he admits to Barry.

“Do you have superpowers?” Serena asks.

“Something like that” Barry says with a laugh, “now, time to sleep” he turns off the kid’s lamp and gets up to leave pulling Caitlin by the hand.

“That wasn’t so bad now was it?” Barry asks voice barely above a whisper.

“I could just kiss you” Caitlin sighs and Barry raises a brow at her, “not that I’m going to or that I want to” Caitlin splutters, “it’s really just an expression — what I mean to say is, thank you Barry” she amends slumping her shoulders.

“C’mon, I’ll help you clean up” Barry tells her as they walk away from the twins’ room.

“Fine, I guess we have to clean up as well” she sighs tiredly, she goes to pick up the first toy but a familiar swooshing blows her hair all over her face and stops her.

“Done” Barry says smugly from his spot on the couch; the kids’ toy bin is stuffed to the top with all their toys that were scattered all over just a few seconds ago, the living room spotless.

“Thank you!” she tells him sincerely, she goes to sit on the couch next to Barry and instead falls face first onto Barry’s chest.

“You tired?” Barry teases from above her; she’s so tired she doesn’t even have the energy to move, so Barry maneuvers her into a more comfortable position and runs his fingers through her hair. “The invincible Dr. Snow, defeated by a couple of toddlers, for real now?” Barry laughs.

Caitlin is way too tired to pick her face up and she just mumbles a response onto Barry’s neck.

The last thing she recalls is Barry laughing and she’s not sure if she dreams it, but she could swear he’d placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

-

“Cait, Caitlin! Wake up, the Fletchers are here” Barry whispers shaking Caitlin awake.

“Five more minutes!” Caitlin exclaims sitting up straight. The door opens and the Fletchers walk in revealing a very surprised Mrs. Fletcher; she probably expected the house to be in terrible shape, toys thrown around everywhere, maybe even a fire or who knows. The woman looked at Caitlin with little faith

Suck it Mrs. Fletcher, your house is intact. Thank you Barry, Caitlin thinks groggily.

Wait, Barry! Where the hell is Barry?

The thought wakes her up fully and she’s scrambling off the couch, eyes scanning the living room for any sign of him. She doesn’t see him and Mrs. Fletcher speaks up. “Everything alright dear?”

“I—yeah, just tired that’s all” Caitlin tells her. She looks around the house one more time before she excuses herself. Mrs. Fletcher asks about the payment thing and Caitlin waves her off with promises of talking to her tomorrow morning.

-

“Home, sweet home” Caitlin mumbles opening her apartment door.

“You know you’re going to have to share your winnings with me, right?” Barry jokes popping out from Caitlin’s kitchen and nearly sending her into cardiac arrest.

“Oh my god Barry, what the hell?” Caitlin exclaims floundering a bit.

“Sorry!” he replies raising his hands, “I didn’t want you to get in trouble with your neighbors for having a stranger over” he tells her.

“So naturally, you hide out in my kitchen and wait till I walk in to nearly kill me from a heart attack. Thanks Bar, thanks” Caitlin says with an eye roll.

“I mean, obviously” Barry laughs.

“So what is this about you not sleeping?” Caitlin asks changing the subject; she walks over to her couch and sits patting the spot next to her.

“It’s a recent thing, I guess too much on my mind” Barry admits coming to sit next to her.

“How come you hadn’t mentioned it before?” Caitlin asks with a concerned look.

“I didn’t think it was a big deal, I mean it’s only been a week” Barry says.

“Hmm, well you’re spending the night then. C’mon, I’ll make you some tea, and I’ll try a few tricks my mom used on me when I had trouble sleeping” Caitlin tells him, Barry tries to protest but Caitlin has none of it.

“I don’t want to put you out, honestly” Barry tries but Caitlin shushes him and drags him towards the kitchen.

“Nonsense, Barry you just spent the night helping me chase down toddlers and calm down screaming babies, it’s the least I can do” Caitlin says.

She gets started on making the tea and they sit in comfortable silence.

“Here, drink this up” Caitlin hands Barry a steaming cup of tea, then serves herself one. 

“Thank you Cait” Barry smiles over the cup, then takes a long sip. “This is delicious, by the way” he tells her.

Once they’ve both finished their tea and Caitlin’s done sharing with Barry all the shenanigans the kids got into earlier, she takes their cups and places them on the sink.

“So, where do you keep the extra sheets and stuff?” Barry asks standing up and stretching.

“You’re not sleeping on the couch” Caitlin tells him, Barry looks confused. “My bed is big enough for the both of us” she explains, and Barry’s eyes widen. 

“I really don’t think that’s a good idea” Barry tells her scratching the back of his neck.

“Barry, you literally let me fall asleep on you. I think I probably drooled on you as well” Caitlin cringes.

“A lil’ bit” Barry laughs and Caitlin smiles.

“So then stop being weird about sharing a bed with me” Caitlin tells him. “C’mon, I like to cuddle, and I’m always the big spoon” Caitlin jokes.

“I refuse to be the little spoon” Barry laughs.

“Well that’s too bad” comes Caitlin’s response.

Barry still thinks it’s a bad a idea, but he’s actually kind of tired, so he shrugs and follows Caitlin into her bedroom.

**Author's Note:**

> This was so much fun to write ha and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Thanks for reading babes! xoxox
> 
> Originally posted [here](http://sarahslance.tumblr.com/post/117104452185/prompt-caitlin-has-to-babysit-but-she-doesnt)


End file.
